Delhi High Court rejects plea by TV Today to close defamation case filed by BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed two petitions filed by India Today seeking discharge in the criminal defamation proceedings instituted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ramesh Bidhuri and his nephew Rajpal Poswal over a 2011 news report [TV Today Network Ltd. & Ors Vs Ramesh Bidhuri]..The High Court upheld a Magistrate court order in this regard.In 2011, Aaj Tak aired a news report about a gang rape and abduction case involving one Sunny. The accused was described as Poswal's brother-in-law. Bidhuri was then a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Tughlakabad Constituency. Since the report linked the accused to them, both Bidhuri and Poswal filed separate complaint cases. Bidhuri alleged that the news report falsely connected him with the accused and thereby, harmed his reputation by implying that political influence was being used to protect the accused.A Magistrate in September 2014 issued summons to the media company. TV Today, the parent company of Aaj Tak, later sought discharge in the cases, arguing that it was reporting facts in good faith and in public interest. However, a Magistrate dismissed the discharge applications in 2018, holding that he lacked the power to discharge accused in a summons triable case. .Justice Ravinder Dudeja upheld the trial court's decision, ruling that once the Magistrate has taken cognizance and issued summons upon satisfaction that a prima facie case exists, he is left with no power to recall or annul his earlier order by entertaining a discharge application."In light of the settled position of law and judicial precedents, the Court is of the view that the applications filed by the petitioners before the learned Metropolitan Magistrate seeking discharge were not maintainable. The impugned order dated 13.12.2018, dismissing the same, therefore, does not suffer from any legal infirmity," the Court ruled..The Court further agreed with Bidhuri’s submission that since TV Today had not challenged the 2014 summoning order, discharge could not be granted. "Petitioners have not challenged the summoning order dated 20.09.2014 in the present petition, and therefore in view of the same, the relief sought for discharge, cannot be granted," it said..Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal, appearing for Bidhuri, earlier argued that the news report was deliberately sensationalized and designed to malign his personal and political reputation. He further submitted that this case being a summons triable case, does not contain a provision on discharge.Advocate Hrishikesh Baruah, appearing for India Today, stated that although the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) does not expressly provide for discharge in a summons case, the duty of the Magistrate inherently includes the power to decline to proceed against the accused if no offence is disclosed..However, the Court rejected the argument that the Magistrate could have invoked inherent jurisdiction under Section 251 of CrPC to drop the proceedings or recall the earlier summons.Section 251 CrPC only contemplates that the particulars of the offence be explained to the accused and does not empower the Magistrate to undertake a mini-trial or to evaluate defences on merits at that stage, the Court explained."The petitions are accordingly dismissed and disposed of along with pending application (s),if any," it ordered..Advocates Hrishikesh Baruah, Utkarsh Dwivedi and Kumar Kshitij appeared for TV Today.Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal with advocates Amit Tiwari, Shekhar, Aditya Raj, Ayushi Srivastava and Ayush Tanwar appeared for Ramesh Bidhuri and Rajpal Powsal.[Read Judgment]